Clean medical equipment or facilities
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 12 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Performing General Physical Activities (4.A.3.a.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 12 occupations that perform it.
- Lay out materials such as puzzles, scissors and eating utensils for use in therapy, and clean and repair these tools after therapy sessions.
- Inspect, clean, test, and maintain respiratory therapy equipment to ensure equipment is functioning safely and efficiently, ordering repairs when necessary.
- Disassemble and clean anesthesia equipment.
- Set up, clean, and maintain laboratory equipment.
- Set up, maintain, calibrate, clean, and test sterility of medical laboratory equipment.
- Clean, check, and maintain sonographic equipment, submitting maintenance requests or performing minor repairs as necessary.
- Clean and help maintain equipment or work areas and sterilize glassware, according to prescribed methods.
- Clean and restock operating room, gathering and placing equipment and supplies and arranging instruments according to instructions, such as a preference card.
- Clean and sterilize instruments, equipment, or materials.
- Clean or sterilize ophthalmic or surgical instruments.
- Clean rooms and make beds.
- Wash and sterilize equipment, using germicides and sterilizers.
- Clean kennels, animal holding areas, surgery suites, examination rooms, or animal loading or unloading facilities to control the spread of disease.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
12 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
- Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians
- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists
- Nurse Anesthetists
- Occupational Therapists
- Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
- Ophthalmic Medical Technologists
- Pharmacy Technicians
- Respiratory Therapists
- Surgical Technologists
- Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Clean medical equipment or facilities”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Sterilize medical equipment or instruments | 12 |
| Clean medical equipment | 10 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.